Monster Books of Monsters ~ FINISHED!

Finally done!  Hooray, hooray!!!!!!!

I started these almost a year ago, it's about time I got them finished! 

If you'd like to see the progress, you can see part one,  part two and part three by clicking the links.

 They still look pretty cuddly, but I am happy with them.

 

After getting them all sewn together, all that was left to do was put their titles on.  I wanted it to look like gold embroidery.  I started by trimming the fur to give myself an area to paint on.

Then I practiced on some leftover fur that I had saved. I had gold glitter paint that I was planning to use, but it doesn't show up by itself.  I tried painting the letters in black, brown and yellow first, then went over them with the gold.  I liked the look of the yellow the best.  I have so many smears of yellow on my practice fur, it is difficult to see what I have here, but it is all my practicing.

 

Then I painted my titles on.

 

"Monster Book of"

"MONSTERS"

 

A front view.  He has a little fur blocking his leftest eye, I see.

Maybe I won't give these to the kids...

 

 

 

Now that I finished these, I can make my Iron Man T-shirt!

Thanks for looking!

:) 

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Monster Book of Monsters: Part Three

Just held together with pins at the moment

 

Well, my high hopes for fabulous teeth were temporarily dashed when this is what I created.

This will not do at ALL!

I had decided that I was not going to make any sort of template or pattern because I want both books to look different.  So I picked up a piece of fabric and folded it in half and just stared sewing teeth.  It actually didn't look too bad... Until I tried to turn them right-side-out.

Back to the drawing board.

After some thought, I decided that making each tooth individually was the way to go.  Again, I didn't use any sort of pattern.  I just sewed what looked like a tooth.  Just one at first.  It looked perfect! So I went all out and sewed up a whole bunch.  Then I arranged them on the table and switched them around until I thought they looked right.

 

 

Then I put a little stuffing in each one and pinned it to the "gums".  I put a piece of batting between two layers of red to plump them up just a bit. 

 

 Made myself a tooth sandwich and sewed it up.

 

 

 I also made the tongues using red and a little batting for substance.

 

 

 And here is where my Monster Books of Monsters sit now.  All pinned together.  I need to sculpt around the eyes a little more.  Both of the girls just want to hug these guys, and they are supposed to be a little menacing.

Here is what they are trying to look more or less like. 
These images were found on a Google Images search for "Monster Book of Monsters"

Next I need to sew these together and come up with a way to get the title on them.
Thanks for looking and following my progress!
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Monster Book of Monsters: Part Two

I've lost my crafting mojo.  I just haven't been in the mood to craft.  Today, however, I decided that I need to finish these Monster Book of Monsters.  I've only been working on them for about ten months!!!  You can see the start here, if you'd like.

 



 

So, I got out my eyes and chose suitable ones.

I made little pillows to put them on, and attached the eyes.  These are very lightly stuffed so that they can be sculpted under the fur.

 

 

I carefully slit the fur after determining the position of my eyes.   Then I sculpted a little around the eyes. I will probably do a little more sculpting detail later.  He's going to have trouble seeing with all that fur in his eyes! 

 So I trimmed a little around the eyes.
This is where my Monster Book of Monsters stands at the moment. 


Next up: The teeth. I'm making them soft.  These will make or break this project, I think.
I have high hopes for this.

Thanks for looking!
:)

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Neville's Remembrall

In case you don't know what a remembrall is, it is a clear glass ball that fills with red smoke when you have forgotten something.  Neville receives one as a gift from his grandmother in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.  It immediately turns red, prompting Neville's quote in the above photo.

Photo found here

I have had the idea for making this for at least a year, but I couldn't find a suitable material for the gold trim.  A little while ago, I just happened to find the perfect ribbon.

Instructions aren't really needed.  I stuffed small pieces of gauzy red ribbon into a clear glass Christmas ornament and carefully glued the gold ribbon around the ball.
That's it!

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Monster Book of Monsters: The Beginning

It is only pinned together here.  I'm just testing the size of my pieces.

I've had an idea to make a Monster Book of Monsters rattling around in my head since about October or November.  It has taken me until now to actually try to make it.
We love Harry Potter in this house.  Well, the girls and I do.  Hubby likes it just fine, but I don't think he loves  the series like we do.  I am making two of these.  One for each daughter.  My book will be a little friendlier than Harry's.

Here is the book I am making my version of:


I found this picture here

I tried looking online for a tutorial back when I got the idea and only found one (at The Leaky Cauldron).  But it used a lot of materials that I don't have.  Plus, the teeth were hard, I want to keep everything soft.  So I had to figure out how I would do it all on my own. I did like her idea of the foam base though, so I used that idea.

I started out with pieces of foam and some off-white fabric.

Then I cut the foam to about 9" x 12"

Then I cut a strip of my fabric about 12" wide and long enough to wrap around one long side and both short sides of my foam (I didn't measure this part).  I made a little fold in the fabric and stitched allllllllll the way along the long part.  I did this over and over again until it was wide enough to cover the end of my foam.  These are my book pages.

But sadly, I wasn't able to finish them both the day I started because I ran out of thread. 

A week later, I have a 500m long spool of thread and I am back to work!  Here are my 'pages' pinned into place around my book form.

Then, I hemmed my fun fur all the way around and checked it for size.

I think it is looking pretty good so far!  I haven't decided if my next step will be they eyes or the teeth.

So far, the only items I needed to purchase for this project have been the foam ($2 each) and the new spool of thread.  Everything else I already had hanging around the house.

I hope to have an update next week.  I hope everything else works out as well as my pages have.  They turned out almost exactly as I had pictured.

Thanks for looking!

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A Harry Potter Spell Book

Quite a while back, I saw a tutorial for this, complete with the spells already laid out in 4X6" format and set up as a free printable.  My thanks go out to Christie at A Lemon Squeezy Home for not just taking the time to create this fun printable, but for also sharing it for free!

I picked up a small, plain photo album at a dollar store.

See, non-descript, unsuspecting....  Nobody would ever guess the treasure inside!

Then I printed out Christie's spellbook, cut the pages and slipped them in the album.  Quick and easy!  My fourteen year old (yes, you read that right... fourteen year old) daughter thinks it is fantastic and has already requested that we make one for her Harry-Potter-loving-friend for her birthday (in five months!).

Inside we have a title page.

And the spells are laid out alphabetically.

We are already very familiar with nox...

Because it is on both girls' light switch plates!

Sorry, but I had to post the plates.  I made them ages ago and I am still quite proud of them.  :)

Now, if you have a Harry Potter fan in your life, pop over to A Lemon Squeezy Home using the link at the top.  It goes directly to the Spell Book project!
Have fun!




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